Will there be a Fairphone Tablet Computer?

I know there are some old, closed threads, like

https://forum.fairphone.com/t/how-about-a-fairpad/453

It was closed in 2018, now it is 2022, and I would be very happy to buy a Fairphone Tablet Computer. Will there be one?

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We are the community and not the manufacturer :wink:
What answer do you except?
And what is it worth?

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I expect the manufacturer also to read and answer.

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They may, but the official channel is to contact support for these kind of questions. We may help with troubleshooting and identifying issues, share (official) information, but this is not an official point of contact place. :slight_smile:

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As mentioned this is only a community forum, but the 'short" answer is - not for a few years, if not a decade or two.

And

What are your main concerns and wants for a tablet, why would you want one made by Fairohone

And yes please ask fairphone if you would like a time scale :woozy_face:

Experience has taught that they do not do that

As you can see here, global tablet sales have been decreasing for almost a decade now (except for the pandemic, since more people were at home, so more people bought “home entertainent” products).

They were cool ten years ago when phones only had 10cm screens and companies were like “oooh we can put this fancy new capacative touch technology into devices with large screens, cool” and mums across the world bought one to play candy crush. Nowadays, phones have a large enough display to do almost everything a tablet was being used for, and people realised that tablets serve no real purpose, since you can’t do proper computer stuff with them (office, gaming, …).

I don’t see why Fairphone would enter an already dying market.

Edit: Don’t mistake me, I like fancy big touchscreens as well, but I wouldn’t spend money on an expensive device I know I won’t use a lot, and apparently neither does the majority of people in the past years.

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I don‘t think, that Fairphone will build a tablet. But I completely disagree, that a smartphone can substitute one. The screens are by far not big enough to replace it. Although they are far to big for a phone already.

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Right!

What happens financially when a niche manufacturer enters a niche market?
Nothing, right

In the end, this is not a fun consideration for FP.
They also have to think about money in the end. There is nothing left for them.

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I think the question is, is it possible to use the FP4 (or may be FP5) core module (and other components) on a bigger screen?
May be if the HW development will take a look to make this possible there is only a small financial risk by building an additional bigger screen and battery :wink:.

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I imagine the ‘fairphone team’ have enough on their plate.

I can’t imagine the cost would be viable and consider all the updates needed, support and warranty. Screen protectors, cases

Nope! I don’t see it as viable.

My opinion on this is that we should own less devices and do more with them. So not the trend of having a smartwatch, smartphone, e-reader, tablet, laptop, PC, etc. But e.g. just a phone and laptop. Where the laptop has a touchscreen so you could use it as a tablet. Or even better, use your phone with a PC monitor and keyboard + mouse (convergence). Of course not ideal for everyone and all use cases. But that train of thought is what makes a difference in terms of sustainability.

Fairphone has an SD-card option. So a few terabytes of storage is possible. Android 13 offers the ability to run VMs on them, so you could run a full Linux environment on it, or Windows for that matter. The hardware of smartphones is really impressive. For most tasks it should be enough.

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You are right for FP4 :wink:. But for a FP5 (where you have to make a complete new design) this option to use the modular components on more devices should be not a big problem.
May be you need an additional empty plate where only the connectors are placed to span the bigger screen and put the camera, the speakers and the microphone on the edge of the screen :thinking:.
All other components could be used for phone and tablet and must not be different (and you did not need additional components on a tablet.

You need at least a bigger screen, and I guess it’s not that easy to find a fair trade supplier who is able or willing to deliver it in small batches.
You need a second production line, as a tablet wouldn’t be priced reasonably, if it’s build all by hand.
And I’m not into hardware development of mobile SoCs, but probably the screen driver is build into it and can’t be used for a completely different screen size and resolution.
So I still think (but I thought a FP4 wouldn’t be announced soon, so who I am to think at all :wink:?) a Fairphone tablet ain’t in the queue.

How difficult it is can be seen when following Shifts Mi and Mu which are in the Pipeline for years. A company must have the resources to develop and maintain multiple devices. The smaller the company the more difficult. I think FP would not do themselves a favour by developing more devices than 1 phone at a time.

However who is interested in a swiss army knife might want to check here
https://www.shiftphones.com/shiftmu/

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This would be possible with a Fairphone too, if one got multiboot to work. Just boot into Linux and use the USB connector to connect to a hub and to an external display. That would be really cool

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Perhaps not a comercial tablet, but I’d love to install somehow a tablet screen to my fairphone 2 so I can have a tablet that my aunt can use, she doesn’t manage small screens, and she doesn’t mind having the charger on all the time. Have you heard about custom displays connectors to Fairphone 2?

You can do that already :slight_smile: Just plug it into a USB-C supporting display. When you enable desktop mode you even have a computer desktop. Android 13 will improve that desktop experience.

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Keep calm… :rofl:
still on A11…and you talking from A13
Until then nobody knows what we talked about today :wink:

FP2 is not using USB-C and I actually doubt its possible with the FP2, I’m even not sure if possible with the FP3.

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